My website is just over a year old, so I’ve been reflecting on my first year and some of what I did wrong. I think at the top of the list would have to be the fact that I didn’t ask exactly that question of other marketers:
What would you do differently in your first year if you knew then what you know now?
Here are my own answers to that question:
1) Trying to go in too many directions at once. In my first year of internet marketing, I was like a kid in a candy store. I could see and smell success all around me and I knew I wanted some, so I tried a little of this and a little of that. End result – not a lot of progress. I switched lanes way too often.
2) Being a serial buyer. Along the same lines, I was intrigued with way too many products, many of which were useless. I wish I could have back some of the money that I spent foolishly so that I could spend it with forethought and planning.
3) Not sticking close enough to SBI forums My site was purchased through Site Build It!, and the information they provide is very in-depth. At the top of the list of what is accessible if you purchase a site through them is an incredible forum full of very experienced and helpful people (many of whom have sites in the top 1% of all websites. See results here.). In fact, the forum alone is probably worth the price of SBI. Also, Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich talks about needing a Master Mind group – in other words, putting your head together with others who have similar goals. Or in his words, he defines the Master Mind as “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”
4) Not using a daily or weekly planner.I rely way too much on my brain. I expect myself to remember things, and often I let myself down. I am unable to work on my website full-time, so in the snippets of time that I do have, I often have found myself wasting time “warming up” because I don’t remember where I left off or what I was trying to accomplish. This is one big thing that I am working on in the coming year – making out a schedule for the coming week at the beginning of the week, so I remember exactly where I’m trying to go.
Mistakes aren’t all bad – they always offer lessons. Or as John Powell said, “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” I’m looking forward to a better year becauseof the mistakes I made last year.
